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Here’s a helpful article that covers the importance of learning vocabulary words. Add your thoughts by participating in the “comments’ conversation below.

Do You Watch Your Words?

By: Knight Pierce Hirst

If you come across a word you don’t know, look it up. My grandmother made that rule to improve her grandchildren’s vocabularies and I can still hear her reminding me. Well, looking on the luminous side, if my dictionary is out of reach - or even better - in another room, I can increase my wordage and my exercise at the same time.

Because of the trips to my Webster’s - okay, Grandmother - because of the sojourns, I’ve learned words that are fun to use just because of the way they sound. Ensconced means to settle comfortably; but if I say I was ensconced in a hammock, it sounds like I was doing something more important than relaxing. Loquacious instead of talkative; parsimonious in place of cheap; mordant rather than sarcastic - I’ve learned synonyms that make talking to myself sound much more interesting.

Then there are the words whose meanings I don’t understand after I’ve looked them up. Pralltriller means inverted mordent. That’s not mordant, meaning sarcastic. It’s mordent, meaning an ornament made by a single rapid alternation of a principal tone with a subsidiary tone a half step or whole step below. I won’t be using pralltriller often in coversations.

Yes, Grandmother, my jaunts to the dictionary have taught me new words. However, I’m embarrassed to admit they’ve also taught me that I’ve been using some incorrectly. Now I can’t be perturbed when my husband comes home late. At first he thought that was good news, but no. Perturbed means troubled greatly. He’s late too often for that to accurately describe how I feel; but I can be - and often am - disturbed when he’s tardy.

Then there are the words whose misuse spread faster than the flu. When I heard a newscaster say, “He goes” instead of “He says”, my husband heard me say something…defined as an expletive. Anxious is another one that’s often used incorrectly. It means worried, not eager. Thus I’m anxious about anxious being misused. Scan means to analyze. I had thought it meant to glance at quickly and I wasn’t the only one.

So many of us Americans used scan incorrectly that “glance at quickly” is now accepted as an “Americanism” - American English instead of English English. In fact, there are so many accepted Americanisms that my Webster’s dictionary is officially titled “Webster’s New World Dictionary Of The American Language”. Ain’t ain’t in an English dictionary, but it’s in mine. If they have dictionaries in heaven, my grandmother ain’t going to like that. Neither is Noah Webster.

Author Resource:-> KNIGHT PIERCE HIRST takes humorous looks at life.

Take a minute to make yourself smile at
http://knightwatch.typepad.com

Article From Article Friendly

Here’s an interesting article about the importance of English Word Stress. After reading the article below, please participate in our discussion by adding a comment below.

English Word Stress - Does It Really Matter?

By: Heather Hansen

Yes and No.

Yes, if you are a non-native speaker speaking to a native English speaker (classified as English speakers from the UK, Australia, New Zealand and North America).

No, if you are a non-native English speaker speaking to another non-native speaker (classified as… everybody else).

Let me explain.

English language teaching theory has traditionally been based on native English forms, more specifically British and American English varieties. In today’s international community however, where more than 1 billion non-native English speakers use English as a lingua franca, teaching theory is changing to focus on English as an International Language (EIL).

According to linguist Jennifer Jenkins’ research on the English language, there are certain factors in English pronunciation that can influence the degree of intelligibility between a speaker and listener. Word stress is one of these factors if you are speaking with a native English speaker, but Jenkins has found that when two non-native speakers interact in EIL, word stress has little influence on intelligibility.

So why are native speakers so stressed about word stress?

Stress indicates identity

Anyone who has ever zapped between BBC and CNN has probably noticed the differences between standard British and standard American word stress. It has caused quite a CONtroversy (US), or should I say, “conTROVersy” (UK).

To a native English speaker, a certain word stress is considered appropriate or inappropriate depending on where the person is from. “Inappropriate” word stress can really rub listeners the wrong way because it deviates from their norm and indicates that the speaker is an “other” - an outsider. This can be quite FRUStrating (US)/frusTRATing (UK) for the non-native speaker who is just trying to get his point across.

After hours spent in a language LABoratory (US), or laBORatory (UK) if you prefer, non-native English speakers are still at a loss when it comes to speaking to native speakers internationally.

“So which variety is correct?” This is the most common question I am asked in my language courses. And I always have the same answer, “It depends who you ask!”

Stress indicates different meanings of identical words

In one case however, word stress can cause problems whether you are a native speaker or non-native speaker of English: words which are spelled the same, but have different meanings (and different word stress).

A pilot once told me a story about a member of his cabin crew informing him that they had an inVALid passenger on board. The pilot was a bit confused and wondered if the passenger didn’t have a ticket or wasn’t on the roster. He couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Is wasn’t until the flight attendant continued to explain that the passenger was in a wheel chair and had special needs that the pilot realized he meant to say INvalid!

This is a perfect example of how inaccurate word stress can cause problems. And in this case, both the pilot and the flight attendant were non-native English speakers.

Stress indicates parts of speech

Word stress can also differentiate a word’s part of speech - more specifically whether the word is a noun or a verb. There are many examples of words which in their noun form take their stress on the first syllable, but in the verb form are stressed on the second syllable.

Say the following words out loud: PROgress - proGRESS, OBject - obJECT, REcord - reCORD.

We would never say, “She wants to REcord a REcord one day,” but rather, “reCORD a REcord.”

Unfortunately this isn’t a blanket rule, and there are plenty of English words which sound the same both as verbs and as nouns: travel, picture, promise and visit are a few examples.

So what is the non-native English speaker to do? I always recommend sticking to the form you are most comfortable with. You might make an American VIP cringe when you call him a DIGnitary instead of a DIGniTARy, but he’ll also cringe when you call French fries “chips” and cookies “biscuits!”

Communication is a two-way street with compromise and understanding at both ends. If you meet people who can’t accept the way you speak, then they’re probably not worth speaking with anyway!

Author Resource:-> Heather Hansen, founder of Singapore-based Hansen Speech & Language Training, is an executive speech and language coach, writer and trainer. Become a star speaker! Visit her website www.hansenslt.com now for free information on how to speak clearly, correctly and confidently! Join her mailing list to receive your free special report, and as a special bonus you’ll also receive her monthly newsletter, Speak like a Star!

Article From Article Friendly

By: Chris Robertson

As a self-professed political junkie, I have been rabidly following the 2008 Presidential primary season since, well, early 2007. This year’s election is exhilarating for many reasons, not the least of which is that, for the first time in our nation’s history, the Democratic nominee for President will be either a woman or an African American.

But the 2008 election is groundbreaking for another reason: the last time that neither an incumbent President nor an incumbent Vice President ran for our nation’s highest office was in 1928, when President Calvin Coolidge did not seek reelection.

So, the last time that neither party had a presumptive nominee was 60 years ago. That election was considered to be the first “modern” presidential race, as candidates Herbert Hoover and Alfred E. Smith not only crisscrossed the nation campaigning, but also employed the media - in the form of radio commercials and sound newsreels - to get their messages out to voters. But what strikes me as more significant is that women earned the right to vote only eight years before.

It was a long road for suffragists, with Frances Wright raising the issue in the late 1820s, and Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and others carrying the torch during the later half of the century. During every Congressional session from 1869 through 1919, the National American Woman Suffrage Association testified before Congress. That’s 50 years - a half-century! In 1915, 1918, and early 1919, national legislation granting women the right to vote was defeated. It wasn’t until President Woodrow Wilson called a special session of Congress in May 1919 that a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote passed and was ratified by the states in time for the 1920 presidential election.

Against the backdrop of this year’s primary season, the suffragists’ accomplishment is all the more significant. I can’t help but reflect on the fact that my grandmother was already 25 years old before she was granted the right to vote. I can’t help but wonder what she would think if she were here to see that a woman has a 50-50 chance of being her party’s nominee. And, I can’t help but question why Hillary Clinton’s support comes overwhelmingly from women who are over the age of 50.

The flip side of that question is why Barack Obama has the overwhelming support of the white men and younger women in the Democratic Party. Senator Obama obviously has created a movement with his inspirational and aspirational message, and I don’t want to discount his accomplishments and qualifications for his party’s nomination. But since the candidates don’t substantially differ on the issues, there must be something else going on here. After looking at it from many different angles, and after listening to pundits pontificate until my eyes cross, I can draw only one conclusion about male Democratic voters: that the river of sexism runs more deeply through this country than I ever imagined. The voting booth is a very private place, but numbers and demographics do add up.

As for Senator Clinton not pulling in younger women’s votes, I imagine that it’s in some measure due to our generation’s success in breaking glass ceilings for our daughters and granddaughters. I’m curious to know if, as is often the case with feminist battles we’ve fought and won, gender politics doesn’t play a role in the lives of younger women.

Looking back to Susan B. Anthony, and even to my own grandmother, I wonder how far we’ve truly come. Since 1945, around the world 39 women have been Prime Minister and 38 women have held the office of President. One of these days - perhaps even this year - the U.S. will catch up to Sri Lanka, Iceland, Chile, and Liberia, among others.

Author Resource:->

Chris Robertson is a published author of
Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource web site at: http://www.majon.com

To learn more about subjects like 2008 election please visit the web site at:
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